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Network: ILINK
Contributor: Paul Moor
[This quarter [the author] registered to audit an interdisciplinary San
Francisco State University course called "Computers and Arts & the
Humanities", one nominally three-hour meeting every Tuesday evening. This
evening I picked up the October 26th issue of the school paper The Golden
Gater. Just to ginger things up here a bit, I reproduce below, without
comment, a slightly abridged version of the beginning of the front page's
lead article.]
DEAN DEFENDS DeCECCO'S LINK TO PEDOPHILE JOURNAL
Calls _Paidika_ Scholarly, Says He'll Take No Further Action
by Robert Byers and Chuck Oxley
In the wake of complaints, media attention, and one death threat,
university administrators are supporting psychology Prof. John DeCecco's
affiliation with a Dutch journal that advocates pedophilia.
DeCecco received an anonymous death threat on his home answer- ing machine
this weekend, according to the University Police Department. [Deep male
voice: "I'm coming over tonight and put a bullet through your head - did
you hear me? I'm coming to put a bullet through your worthless empty
fucking head so you can drown in your own fucking blood."]
Two weeks ago, a South Bay group of childhood sexual abuse survivors who
have yet to name themselves sparked the controversy with letters to Joseph
Julian, dean of the School of Behavioral and Social Sciences, and
psychology department chair Lily Berry, that attacked DeCecco's link to
_Paidika, The Journal of Paedo- philia_. DeCecco is on the journal's
editorial board.
In an interview Monday, Julian confirmed that he asked DeCecco to respond
to the group's letter and provide him with copies of _Paidika_ for review.
DeCecco, however, said he was upset by the administration's response and
lashed out Monday at its handling of the affair last week.
"I'm upset because the administration has done nothing to defend a senior
member of the faculty who is caught up in a clear issue of academic
freedom", DeCecco said. "They're avoiding the press but they owe it to us
to speak up on our behalf. I've been left totally out on my own without
any guidance."
Julian, however, said he spent time during the weekend reading six issues
of _Paidika_. Julian also said he called Joseph Gerachi, the editor of
_Paidika_, on Monday morning to discuss the publication's editorial
policies.
The dean sent a letter to the South Bay group on Monday after- noon, and
said he planned to take no further action on the matter at this time.
The letter defended DeCecco's right to speak and join publica- tions under
the principles of academic freedom.
Before sending the letter, Julian met with San Franciso State [University]
President Robert Corrigan. According to Julian, Corrigan read and approved
the letter.
A portion of the letter read, "I am convinced that the journal _Paidika_
is a bona fide scholarly publication whose editorial policy is not to
advocate, or be political or polemical, but to create a history of record
on the subject of intergenerational relationships, which may include sex."
Julian also noted that published interviews have been "critical as well as
supportive of paedophilia (European spelling) and contained both positive
and negative statements."
Before he sent the letter to the group, Julian did not review the
journal's statement of purpose, published in _Paedika_'s first edition in
1987.
Part of the statement says: "Through publication of scholarly studies,
thoroughly documented and carefully reasoned, we intend to demonstrate
that paedophilia has been, and remains, a legiti- mate and productive part
of the totality of human experience."
As Julian was leaving the campus Monday night, he was shown a copy of the
statement of purpose and said it would not affect the general content of
his letter. . . .
DeCecco sent a six-page memo to Julian on Friday, stating his reasons for
joining the editorial board of _Paidika_ in 1987.
"I admired [the editors'] courage to start a journal in such a stigmatized
area of human experience and attempt to shed light where there was often
only fear and prejudice", DeCecco wrote.
DeCecco also wrote he did not advocate pedophilia simply because he is on
the editorial board.
"As a teacher, it is not my responsibility to prescribe for or against
particular forms of sexual expressions or relationships."
However, in a recent interview with the Golden Gater, DeCecco said that
sex between children and adults is "not inherently wrong - not per se...."